It’s the place where the focus is me. Others anticipate my needs and fulfill them. If I pout, others want to know what is wrong and will soon be catering to my wishes. When I cook, clean, and cater to others, it is for kudos - to prove how hard I work and how well I take care of others.

I’ve been there.

I went to this place by invitation. “Come with me to the place where everything you want is yours,” the voice said. I made this journey many times.

Then I recognized this voice.

It was the same voice that introduced the fruit to Eve in the Garden. The same voice that whispered to Jesus in the desert when he was hungry.

I went to this land believing that if I didn’t take what I needed, I’d never get it. It was the place where I did not need others, for here everyone takes care of themselves. In this place I could build my career without diversions, because my wants and desires were most important.

When I first entered the Land of Me, I really liked it. I felt such happiness. “What could be better than this?” I thought. Though as time went on, the feeling I truly desired was not there, and no matter what I did, I couldn’t quite fill the gaping hole inside of me.

Then I heard another voice.

“Come with me to a place where your burdens are lifted. In this place you give, then get. It’s the law of the land. Once you lay your own feelings down, true joy comes in instead,” it said.

I recognized this voice.

It was the One who said to Lazarus, “Come forth!” and the dead man listened and obeyed. It was the voice that said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” and then saved the world.

I followed this voice to the new land it spoke of, and found that I didn’t have to fight to find fulfillment or appreciation for all I’d done for others. In this new land, I was loved, and learned my reward was in a better place.

The road to the Land of Me is a shorter, easier one - it has been since the beginning of time. I’ve traveled back there again, and I’m sure I’ll be tempted to return. But each time, when I see the sign leading to the Land of Me, the one that reads, “To True Fulfillment and Joy – This Way,” with its enticing little arrow, I pray that God will remind me that this sign is deceiving. I pray also that He will remind me to walk in the Land of Him, the only place that can fill me to overflowing.

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I think everyone who first starts their career, the one that they think will define who they are to the world, goes to this land of me and does enjoy it for awhile. Using your talents to the best of your ability is indeed a good feeling. But all to soon it becomes your world and can easily be the only way you are defined. It is hard to break away though till one day you look around and think "is this all there is?"